Taber ’08 to be next YCC president

Rebecca Taber ’08 will serve as Yale College Council president next year after winning a clear victory in this year’s elections, which ended on Wednesday, YCC Vice President and Election Committee chair Steve Engler ’07 said Wednesday night.

Taber — who will become the first woman to serve as Council president in seven years when she assumes her office in the fall — won 45 percent of the vote to defeat current YCC Secretary Zach Marks ’09, who got 38 percent of votes cast, and Brent Godfrey ’08, who got 16 percent. Thomas Hsieh ’08 edged out two other candidates to become chair of the Yale Student Activities Committee, and Joshua Tan ’09 won a four-way race for chair of the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. The races for secretary, treasurer and vice president were too close to produce clear winners and are headed for two-candidate run-offs on Friday, Engler said.

Taber, who is currently a Davenport College representative on the YCC, hopes to sit down with Yale College Dean Peter Salovey and the leaders of various campus organizations in the coming weeks in order to discuss plans for next year, she said. She said she was pleased with the civil and constructive tone of the campaign and has already talked to Marks about their work on the Council next year.

“The hardest part of running for both of us was to run against someone we respected so much,” Taber said. “We said if we lost we would remain committed to the Council, and I trust that he will. I look forward to working with him.”

Voting in the three run-offs will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Engler said.